Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a flexible display apparatus and, more particularly, to a flexible display apparatus which makes it easy to wind or unwind a flexible display module.
Description of the Related Art
In general, display apparatuses using flat display panels such as, for example, liquid crystal display apparatuses, plasma display apparatuses, organic light emitting display apparatuses, electrophoretic display apparatuses, and electro wetting display apparatuses, are mainly applied to, for example, laptop computers, portable electronic appliances, televisions, or monitors.
Conventional flat display panels use inflexible glass substrates and are limited in their applicability and fields of use. Thus, flexible display apparatuses, which are bendable through the use of flexible substrates such as, for example, plastic substrates rather than inflexible glass substrates, have recently received attention as new display apparatuses. In particular, research and development into flexible display apparatuses which enable a flexible display panel to be wound up like a roll is actively underway.
For example, U.S. Patent Publication No. US 2014/0247544 discloses a roller type flexible apparatus.
In the roller type flexible apparatus, a flexible display unit is wound around a roll or unwound therefrom into a planar state inside a main body housing using a foldable rod assembly which includes a plurality of pairs of rotatable “X”-shaped rods.
However, the conventional roller type flexible apparatus has the following problems.
First, unwinding the flexible display unit requires a user to apply great pulling force because the flexible display unit is wound or unwound by a manual user operation.
Second, the use of the “X”-shaped rods having a variable length causes difficulty in realizing a slim design of the flexible apparatus due to the complicated and thick configuration of the rods.
Third, two main body housings are used to unwind the flexible display unit, which results in configuration complexity.
As a result, there is a demand for a roller type flexible apparatus which may provide easy winding or unwinding of a flexible display unit and may be applied to a large flexible display apparatus as well as a portable small flexible display apparatus.